Serious play

Exactly one month ago I wrote about how I’m getting serious:

I feel serious.
Like dead serious.
Like “I’m not here to have fun so fk off” serious.
There’s a feeling of dread, that all along the past seven years I’d just been playing entrepreneur.
But this time it feels like I’m trying to be run a business seriously.

But I think there’s a difference between giving something your full attention, and being (too) serious.

I don’t think existence wants you to be serious.
I have not seen a serious tree.
I have not seen a serious bird.
I have not seen a serious sunrise.
I have not seen a serious starry night.
It seems they are all laughing in their own ways, dancing in their own ways. We may not understand it, but there is a subtle feeling that the whole of existence is a celebration.
– Alan Watts

Because there’s should still be an element of play.

It’s like a pro football player, perhaps. They enjoy the game, but they also compete as a professional. That passion is how they got into it, the professionalism is how they got good enough to kick football in the big leagues, on a Olympic level.

On a day-to-day micro perspective, on a tactical level, there’s only serious.
On an ultimate macro perspective, on a meta strategic level, it’s all play.

Play and serious aren’t mutually exclusive.

But my mistake perhaps, was thinking either one was enough.

Too much play and fun, you don’t progress.
Too serious, you don’t sustain.

Serious play.